In a message dated 7/16/2007 10:24:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I understand why people buy bottled water, for convenience. Basically, you're paying for the bottle. But I can't see why it makes sense to buy water that comes from eight thousand miles away! Water's the same everywhere. Worse than just the frivolous use of carbon-based fuel to transport the stuff and paying for the bottle... the environmental community is up and arms about the plastic bottles. First because so much petroleum is used in their manufacture, with the associated release of greenhouse gases. And second because so many of these bottles go into the trash because a) many areas don't have the capability of recycling them, and b) a large fraction of the bottled water sold is consumed "on the road" or "on the street" where there's no convenient way to put the empties into the recycling stream, so many either become litter or get commingled with the landfill-bound trash. This, from Waste Recovery Report: Beverage Market Data Analysis is offered The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) has released its new Beverage Market Data Analysis (BMDA). The study utilizes 2005 figures – the latest available – from a variety of industry sources. It provides sales data in spreadsheet format for 10 beverage categories in nine types of packages both by state and agglomerated for the US as a whole. Among the findings: ▸ between 2002 and 2005, packaged beverage sales grew from 194.1 to 214.5 billion units; ▸ of the overall growth, two-thirds was attributable to bottled water, which doubled from 15 to 29.8 billion units; ▸ energy and sports drinks, fruit beverages, iced teas, and other non-carbonated products increased, although more slowly; ▸ beer and soft drink volumes remained steady; however, they lost market share to water and other non-carbonated products – from 84% as late as 1997 to 71% in 2005. A related CRI study – Water, Water Everywhere: The Growth of Non-Carbonated Beverages in the US – shows that 134 billion new beverage containers were made from raw materials in 2005, consuming the energy equivalent of 53.3 MM barrels of oil and generating 4.8 MM tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The reports are offered in a variety of modular options. For more information, contact Jenny Gitlitz, CRI, 1776 Massachusetts Ave NW, Suite 800, Washington DC 20036, 202-263-0999, _www.Container-Recycling.org_ (http://www.Container-Recycling.org) . Al Krigman (Now that he's helped save the 'hood from the NID, he has time to help save the earth from CO2) ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
